Fact Check
Politics
Donald Trump
Demerit Badge
Donald Trump was inaccurately accused of suggesting that Muslims wear badges, a claim that drew inevitable comparisons to Adolf Hitler.
WHAT’S TRUE: Donald Trump was asked in an interview about whether Muslims should be subject to special scrutiny, a question he answered ambiguously.
WHAT’S FALSE: Donald Trump asserted that Muslims should wear identifying badges.
Any truth to the statements attributed to Donald Trump. tag line: “Trump crosses the Nazi line: Maybe Muslims should wear special ID badges” Reported by Raw Story. “(1) The real estate tycoon and reality TV star said he was open to registering U.S. Muslims in a special database, in addition to requiring them to publicly identify themselves by their faith.” (2) “Trump also refused to rule out warrantless searches as part of his call for increased surveillance of Muslim houses of worship, and he has also suggested that U.S. mosques could be shut down if they are deemed to be a security threat — although he’s not certain that’s legal.”
Origins: On 19 November 2015 web site The Hill published an article titled “Trump won’t rule out database, special ID for Muslims in US,” which reported on an interview given by Donald Trump after a series of terror attacks in Paris on 13 November 2015:
“Certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy,†he added. “We’re going to have to do things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.â€
Trump would not rule out warrantless searches in his plans for increased surveillance of the nation’s Muslims, Yahoo reported Thursday.
He also remained open toward registering U.S. Muslims in a database or giving them special identification identifying their faith, the news outlet added.
“We’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,†Trump continued. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.â€
The comments attributed to Trump caused immediate controversy on Twitter, where a number of users compared the described mandating of badges to similar treatment of Jews in Europe before the Holocaust. However, The Hill was a secondary source for the comments, originally published in a 19 November 2015 Yahoo! Politics article titled “Donald Trump has big plans for ‘radical Islamic’ terrorists, 2016 and ‘that communist’ Bernie Sanders.”
In the context of that interview, it’s important to note that Trump’s responses were non-committal. Furthermore, they were clearly in response to leading questions for which the actual phrasing wasn’t even provided:
But Trump ... has concerns about the larger Muslim community here in the U.S., he said.
Yahoo News asked Trump whether his push for increased surveillance of American Muslims could include warrantless searches. He suggested he would consider a series of drastic measures.
“We’re going to have to do things that we never did before. And some people are going to be upset about it, but I think that now everybody is feeling that security is going to rule ... certain things will be done that we never thought would happen in this country in terms of information and learning about the enemy. And so we’re going to have to do certain things that were frankly unthinkable a year ago.â€
Yahoo News asked Trump whether this level of tracking might require registering Muslims in a database or giving them a form of special identification that noted their religion. He wouldn’t rule it out.
“We’re going to have to — we’re going to have to look at a lot of things very closely,†Trump said when presented with the idea. “We’re going to have to look at the mosques. We’re going to have to look very, very carefully.â€
Precisely how such a question was presented to Trump was not elaborated upon in the printed text of the interview, nor was what his exact response (not “rul[ing] it out”) entailed. Moreover, the portions involving quotes were so exceptionally vague (”do things that we never did before,” “certain things will be done”) and full of obfuscation, it was impossible to discern even vaguely what Trump referenced. (The mandate of badges for Muslims was quite a leap by any measure.)
While it appeared Trump fielded a question about enhanced surveillance for Muslims and mosques, in no reasonable interpretation of the material provided did he himself suggest that followers of Islam should wear Holocaust-like badges as in Nazi Germany. That assertion appeared to be one fronted by the interviewer, and not fairly attributable to Donald Trump. It’s true that Trump espoused a position many would deem objectionable or offensive in the little he did say, but the controversy hinged largely on words he didn’t appear to have said.
Last updated: 19 November 2015
Trump’s lawyers will be sending out some “cease and desist” letters shortly backed up by threats of legal action for libel.
Donald Trump unleashes raging 12-tweet barrage, threatens lawsuit at 'irrelevant' rival
Thank you for posting the Fact Check.
I knew when it was posted yesterday without any actual quotes it was BS.